Timing is Everything

“You will be aware of the deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday,” Pastor Palitha Jayasooriya wrote to trainers Babu Verghese and George Koshy before our writer workshop there in July.

“The nation is still struggling to recover from the devastation,” he added, “but the Church remains strong. We are going ahead with arrangements as scheduled.”No one envisioned terrorist bombings when we began planning with Pastor Palitha. But since our training took place on the heels of the tragedy, some 28 participants came with heightened urgency to craft words of hope in Christ for shaken Sri Lankans. The timing of the workshop undoubtedly influenced its impact.

“It was a jumbo blessing for you to take us through a very inspiring and thought-provoking seminar,” Winant Juriansz wrote to our trainers. “You lit a spark, that’s for sure.”

In many ways, scheduling is the wild card in training. We pray for God’s leading.

In April 1997 in Sierra Leone, our trainers had a sense of foreboding about the country’s future. They challenged the Christian publishers and writers there to stand firm for the Lord no matter what the circumstances. Within a month, a group of disgruntled military officers staged a coup unleashing a wave of death and terror. In 2010 MAI felt a prompted to provide training in a closed country of Asia. At the time, we had no close contacts with its Christian publishers and writers. An exploratory trip by our Asian Trustees resulted in new partnerships and a series of fruitful training events nearly every year since.

We thank God for prompting us when He did. Today, it would be impossible to develop a similar outreach, given the government’s recent crack-down on religious activity.

As God continues to open new doors for our training, please pray not only for where we go, but when.

The International Communication Training Institute (ICTI) is ICMC's
media education and training initiative. ICTI functions as a self
regulating partnership of agencies and individuals committed to raising
the quality of media education and learning for christians.

International Communication Training Institute is a division of International Christian Media Commission

registered in England as Charity and as a Company Limited by Guarantee